Composition of Us
by Aeryin
Summary: One-shot collection of Hibike! Euphonium Reina/Kumiko (Not relating to anime storyline(sometimes)) Just based on my imagination
1. Basic Morning

7:28 a.m.

7:29 a.m.

7:30 a.m.

The alarm rang loudly throughout the entire bedroom; the figures moved annoyingly trying their best to muffle out any sound related to the alarm. A hand shot out from beneath the covers and patted her surroundings to shut the obnoxious ringing. Her hand manages to blindly slam the button down before retracting back into the blankets.

"Why do you have an alarm set during Sunday, Kumiko?" The other sleeping figure rolled her closer for warmth, snuggling close to Kumiko, entangled their legs together whiling wrapping both of them in layers of blanket.

"I don't know." Kumiko groaned, emerging herself under the covers and sat up, rubbing her eyes tiredly and gave her arms a stretch to ease out her muscles. Why was the alarm even on? Staring blankly ahead at her wall then at her alarm she gave a tired yawn. Until a hand pulled her back from the cool outside air and back into the blankets warmth.

"It's still early." The voice croaked in the mist of being dragged from her dreams with a rude awakening. "Stay in bed longer." The person wrapped her arms around Kumiko's neck, locking her in place. Her soft breathing hit Kumiko's neck unconsciously. At that point Kumiko was already out of her sleepy state, but her bedmate was quick to slip back into her peaceful dreams.

Kumiko ran her hand through the messy locks of hair and grinned at her sleepy neighbor. Running down the silky locks then back, repeating the process several times. Her gazed dropped to the luscious lips presented before her and gave it a small peck, resulting a smile from the other girl but nothing more; her eyes then shifted to her alarm reading 7:41. "We should get up before my sister walks in on us." The grip tightened. "Reina…"

"Hmm…" Reina tiredly peek one eye open, "It's still early, Kumiko. Let me sleep for a while longer." Kumiko sighed unable to do anything about Reina's sleepy voice, she never could, but she didn't really mind either.

"Fine, 10 more minutes." Kumiko pulled Reina closer, wrapping her arms around her back with a light squeeze. Even without looking, Kumiko could tell Reina was secretly grinning; she always won in the end.

Reina turned grip faltered and turned a little away from Kumiko. Her breathing slowed and soon drifted back in slumber. In awe, Kumiko stared at the sleeping figure once more, before closing her eyes from another few minutes of sleep. It couldn't hurt.

7:45 a.m.

There was a loud, heavy knock against the opposite side of her door followed with a voice. "Kumiko, are you awake yet?" The voice stirred Reina in her sleep, but not enough to awake her. Kumiko, on the other hand separated her body from Reina's and side out the bed in record speed, upon hearing the knock.

Her sister's head peeked in while Kumiko stood awkwardly there at the side of her bed busying herself with smoothing out her messy bed hair. "I'm leaving now; mom made breakfast and left it on the table before leaving. Remember to clean up after yourself."

"O-okay."

The door closed with a light click and Kumiko waited until the footsteps trailed further away from her room until it reached the front door. Kumiko sighed in relief, another second later she would have to suffer another interrogating from her sister. Her mind drifted back to the unpleasant memory. Her sister questioned her for three whole days straight after catching her with Reina, snuggling closely together. She was going to have to tell her family one day, but now was defiantly not the time.

Kumiko's eyes shifted back to the sleeping beauty in bed. Reina was a heavy sleeper, she was getting used to it every time they had a sleepover but it was essentially really a difficult task to wake the girl up. And the girl wasn't quite a morning person.

Kumiko moved closer to the edge of her bed and lean in close till her lips were just centimeters away from Reina's ears. "Reina…" She whispered first, amused at how Reina shivered slightly but didn't move away. Waiting several seconds she continued, only this time in a louder voice. "How long do you plan on sleeping?"

Reina tossed and turned for a bit, trying her best to stretch out her sleepy hangover, with a groan she sat up. Her hair messily falling down her shoulders, bringing her palms to her eyes, she gently rubbed on them. She dropped her hands to her side and Kumiko quickly moved in giving her lips a peck.

Reina's face flushed lightly, fingers bringing themselves back up to touch her lips. Kumiko grinned at the sight. The morning was always her hated yet most favorite part of their sleepover. The night was always better but she was always rewarded with such a pleasant sight every morning.

"You're cheating…" Reina's voice came out quietly; Kumiko gave a confused raise of her eyebrows. Her arms wrapped around Kumiko's neck pulling her in, burying her face into Kumiko's neck. Reina whispered against Kumiko's ears, "Can you hear my heartbeat?"

Kumiko closed her eyes and focused on the thumping of each beat. The rhythm was defiantly quicker and a smile played at her lips, because it was only for her and because of her alone. Reina pulled away only for her to tilt her head and close the distance between their lips once more. This time their kiss lasted longer than a peck. Her hands ran up and down Kumiko's back, hugging her close. They lasted till, Kumiko's lungs burned for air and she reluctantly pulled away, panting.

"W-ho's cheating now?" Kumiko's breath ragged, trying to regain some oxygen. Reina gave a playful smile then dropped her body tiredly onto Kumiko's bed once more.

"You can't call that cheating." Reina gave a small yawn. "I can never get enough sleep at your place."

"Maybe we should stay at your place next time."

"Then I guess we're never leaving the bed."

Kumiko shook her head the smile never leaving her face. She observed the futon beneath her feet then back at Reina. It was always laid there for show. "Remind me why we constantly lay out the futon but no one ever sleeps on it?"

Reina sat up and shrugs; her lifts her body up from the bed and starts organizing Kumiko's sheets and blanket. "You're the one sleeping on it last night," She pauses to soothe out the sheets and place the blanket over it. "Did you have trouble sleeping without me?"

"Says the one who insist I sleep next to her." Kumiko laughs, stepping off the futon; she got on her knees to fold it up. Reina followed her after she completed making the bed. Kumiko pushes the now folded futon to the side and got on her feet with her hands on her hips.

"Do you have anything plan for today?" Reina sat back onto the bed, careful trying not to ruin the perfectly smoothed out bed. Kumiko placed a finger under her chin and hummed thoughtfully.

"Not really, but…" Kumiko's hand reached for her stomach, "Let's have breakfast first." Her hands reached out and grabbed ahold of Reina's before dragging her to the bathroom to freshen up.

"Wait Kumiko…" Reina stopped suddenly making Kumiko turn to question her actions. Her breath was stolen away with a light heart fluttering kiss. After a few seconds Reina pulled away with a smile. "Good morning.

Kumiko returned the smile and pulled Reina into a tight hug, partly to hide her flustered expression, but also out of unable to contain her emotions. Quietly she whispered, "Morning."

Hope you enjoyed the first one shot! Please leave reviews, thank you ^^


	2. Promise Me

A/N: Time skip, Kumiko and Reina are in college. Bittersweet story. Hope you enjoy. :)

Promise Me

The wind blew ruthlessly every short moment raking up everything around then slowly allowing them to fluttering back onto the ground. The trees grew bare, with each day inching towards this season; it was placating it its own way. Although it was barely the beginning of winter, the scenery fitted the upcoming season. The cold air surrounds me despite the lack of wind; winter wasn't particularly my season, though I didn't entirely detest it. This was such a lonely season, everything in sight dies, as the cold overpowers the warmth, harsh weather, and this empty feeling complicates well with this lonely scenery.

The inanimate view before was almost like an artwork stolen from a museum, so beautiful, so picture perfect, like nothing was alive, like everything was stuck in place. It gave an incomprehensible feeling of being sucked in. Despite the rowdy city beneath it all with crowds of people, this place was discreet place of tranquility, almost like my personal sanctuary, people hardly showed up here in the mountains, especially during this cold weather. This was our- my personal oasis.

Despite all that, I wonder endlessly why am I still here, why I'm still sitting here on this frosted cold bench, shivering with each blow. Taking in a light breath I leaned back against the bench, getting comfortable, since I knew I might be here for a while. Each day, without a doubt I find myself carrying my trumpet after school just to sit here, staring, waiting, like a fool.

I remain here hoping, praying, that coincidentally we would bump into each other; then she would say hi and I would say hi back. Our carefree conversation would start there, up till we lose track of time, she would offer to walk me but I would refuse despite wanting her to never leave, and after all that I would let this repeat all over again the next day.

In another point of view this made me seem rather pathetic; I couldn't bring up enough courage to grab ahold of her, I couldn't hold tight enough to make her stay by my side forever. I just wish we would talk, laugh, it was short, maybe even pointless but I just wanted in this short moment of my life where it was just the two of us beneath this tree. That wasn't selfish at all, was it?

But these upcoming cold days limited our time together; I mean what sane person would rather sit in this vacant place in this weather than being home, apparently I didn't fell into that category of those sane people. Small cheerful giggles pulled me out of my trance, my eyes unconsciously followed the sudden noise, they landed on two people lightly dressed matching the weather, linking arms, sharing a small peck that brought a evident blush to the boy's cheeks, my eyes stared intensely with envy. Lucky them. Our eyes met and they turned around after realizing they weren't going to have any alone time up here like they had planned.

I sighed at my current state, was she coming today? She hadn't came for the last week and yet I was still here waiting for some sort of miracle that she might spontaneously show up out of nowhere. Maybe it was false hope, maybe I was just being delusional, but no matter what I told myself, my feet would always drag itself back here, back to this place. Where we began, where we ended and where I continue to live my hopeless dream.

How long had it been? Let's see, we seen each other around our middle school years, we rekindle our meeting during our first year of high school so when did it all began, was it our second year of high school? The memory stayed etched into the farther depths of my brain, I didn't want to dig deep enough to find it yet at the same time I didn't want to push it too far down to forget about it. We were quite complicated, honestly. We were simply naïve high school girls trying finding ourselves in the comfort of each other.

If I tried to remember when it had happen I couldn't quite remember it, before I noticed, I was following her with every glance of my eyes. There were times when I caught her longing stare along the lines but if I ever meet her eyes she would in a flustered manner avoid eye contact. At first I thought it was quite cute, her innocent, pure intention, and nothing else.

Like the first time we ever received our marching band uniforms, it was matched with bright lively colors not necessarily my type of clothing but there was still a certain joy when obtaining them. Even now I could still feel her gaze of admiration, still remember her cute expression when caught; of course I was quite awkward under her stare but unknowingly it left a strange sense of warmth.

Somehow at that time Kumiko seem to understand my unusual way of thoughts. Like that night at the festival, I still remember the way my dress fluttered, the way for the very first time Kumiko had complimented me, I opened up and she listened. I enjoy the aloof side of Kumiko where she was kind to me, to everyone but still placed a sensible distance between her and the rest of the world. The expression she never shown before, words never spoken aloud, I thought it was quite the honor to be the very first witness. Truthfully for the longest time I had been drawn to that side of Kumiko, that distant part of her.

At that time I hadn't realize nor understood the sense of relief that washed over me when she told me that her and Shuuichi's relationship weren't like that; I didn't know what brought a small smile to my face, and it never really bothered me either but if I had to guess right now, that time I hadn't realize it at all, even though it was so obvious that maybe I slowly but surely with every step walking towards that cliff that made me fall so hard for her.

Thinking back, I pretty naïve, still young and oblivious; wanting to become special, to become different from others? I guess I needed some sort of ambition to keep me at the top, because being at the top was necessary for being special. It didn't necessarily mean anything since gradually my determination to become special in other people's eyes became only wanting to become special in her eyes alone. As long as she held value everything time her mind wonders to the thought of me, I craved the anonymous feeling to monopolize her.

"Neh Kumiko…" I spoke to the no one in particular, wanting to hear my voice say the words that were too afraid to leave my lips when she was actually standing before me. "When I said I didn't want to continue this anymore, why didn't you stop me?"

My question was answered with nothing but prominent silence. Faintly, I chuckled to myself, what was I expecting? In spite for what we were, or who we were I couldn't withstand the thought of Kumiko with anyone else, anyone other than me. I loathe this part of me, so indecisive, I need her yet I didn't want her. Rather than saying our relationship was quite complex, it was more me.

So wrapped up in my own resolve, I was completely oblivious to another person uninvitedly taken the seat of my right. I didn't bother to acknowledge the person nor did I care to even though it shouldn't have bothered me, it did, unfortunately. That seat wasn't meant for them it was meant for her.

"Is this seat taken?" The soft familiar voice whispered the question lightly. My amethyst orbs widen at the voice but rejecting the feeling of snapping my head to confirm my hearing. Slowly I turned to face my side and my breath hitched in response.

"Kumiko." I breathed out. She came. She really did. And these sudden ambivalent feeling tore me apart. She gave me her usual bashful grin, before giving her attention to the view ahead. The sky had already painted itself reddish orange as the sun gradually left the sky. I hadn't even realized I had been here for over three hours, it was worth it though. We stayed baked in the short moment of warmth, till Kumiko broke the comfortable silence.

"I didn't think you would be here," Kumiko started lightly. It was embarrassing, I wasn't going to admit I had been here each and every day hoping to just catch a glimpse of her and enjoy our time. So I settled a small hum, because that was all there was to say.

"Then what brought you here?"

Kumiko gave her arms and long stretch and shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly, "It was just…." She paused, taken her time to think for an actual reply. "I just thought maybe…." She turned her eyes to meet mine, her eyes gave nothing away. They were so different from before, I couldn't decipher them anymore. "A change of feeling, I guess."

"I know what you mean." I whispered aloud, observing my visible breath each time I breathed. Out of the corner of my eye noticed the gentle smile spread across Kumiko's face, and the same distinguishable thump in my chest came rolling back, involuntarily. She leaned back with the same relaxed face, as if nothing had changed between us, as though nothing has changed about her, about me.

"So," Kumiko aimlessly began, letting her gaze fall back on me. "How have you been? How's college life?"

It was-great-maybe average-or possibly meaningless. What was there for me to say? It wasn't as though I hated it, but being there also didn't serve as a huge stepping stone for me either. It was simply just college. "There's extraordinary about it but I wouldn't call it dull either."

"Hm, sounds like something you would say." Kumiko mused; the phrase caused me to stifle my laughter. We had become quite fond of that saying over the years, virtually saying it as if we knew the very words the other person would respond with, because that's our way of saying that's how well I understand you. It started off mindlessly but somehow it gradually became a routine.

"I haven't seen you in a while," I sought out obscurely for the reason why I hadn't seen her recently. "Has school been drowning you these days?"

Kumiko's face stayed blank for a short second and then simply grinned, "Just a change of feeling." She repeated again. For some reason her answers were all so vague, like she was trying to avoid the question but answer them simultaneously. From what; that should had been my next question but I was never quite an interrogator, nor did I want to press further in knowing Kumiko was just as stubborn as me, if she chose to be.

"Ne, Kumiko…" My gaze lingering over her body then meets with her eyes shortly. Her light brownish eyes held mine intently as though she was expecting something. I ran my tongue over my chapped lips and swallowed the saliva accumulating in my mouth, "Remember the promise we made back when we first started dating?"

She looked like she was caught off guarded, like that hadn't been the question she was expecting but her head gave an evident nod anyway. We kissed under the first sign of spring, right here at this very spot, living in the moment that had been pulled straight out of a cheesy romance movie. With that very first kiss we promised "I'll always love you."

Silence hovered over us as Kumiko waited for me to elaborate on what I had started. "Did you think I had broken that promise when we- I broke things off? Do you hate me for that?"

That distant promise we made three years ago in our second year of high school, the promise we weren't able to keep. Always and love should never coexisted in one sentence, that's what I thought when I couldn't continue our secret thrilling relationship. But Kumiko never spited me for it, never threw a fit, not even shed a drop of tear. And that hurt much more than cutting it off; did we mean nothing to her.

"Do you remember the promise we made that day when we broke up?"

Ironically, the place where our love had bloomed during the spring, two years later had faded here as well although that time it wasn't under the same blooming season. Maybe that's why I found winter to be so lonesome. In that cold winter day, under the first snow fall of the year, we promised "I would always be there for you." I gave a short nod to her question, like she did to mine.

"I could never hate you, Reina." Kumiko smile had a slight twist of sadness to it, but I wasn't too sure. My lips parted though not one vowel manage to escape. "Our promise wasn't really broken, we simply added another one. We're still keeping it only in a different way. You're still special to me in a way no one else will ever be."

Her words lifted an immense amount of burden that I hadn't realized I had been carrying around for the longest time. My heart felt lighted, it felt easy to breathe now. And somehow with each ton lifted from me, I could feel tears brimming at the edge of my eye; quickly looking away hoping Kumiko hadn't notice the waterworks yet.

How could I ever tell her every time our eyes meet my heart races? How could I tell her that she was always more than just a friend? How could I ever, ever tell her that after all this time I'm still madly in love with her? And I knew deep down I could never repeat the same innocent words of the past that left my mouth that fateful day, not after I had left her once already.

"Kumiko…" I couldn't, I shouldn't. This was beyond my selfish reasoning. I just can't bring myself to utter the same exact words after everything but at the same time I can't stop. I wished I had never let go of the hand that held me so tightly. Our eyes meet once more and she was startled by the tears that were dying to be free. "I'm sorry." How could I ever tell her that-?

"I still love you." Tears had sprung themselves free and rolled down my cheeks, running endlessly, touching my lips allowing me to taste the salty streams of my tears.

"Reina…" Kumiko's eyes widen in surprise then soften down

I honestly must love peeling old scars. Like walking in a circle, I couldn't leave this repetition, there was no way out or on the contrary maybe I hadn't been looking at all. At that time I needed a break but it wasn't from Kumiko, it wasn't from us, it was from me.

"If we go back now it would be even harder to become friends again." I nodded, "If we got back together there's no telling if this don't work out again," Kumiko swallowed lean in closer to me. "I don't want to lose you over our fickleness, Reina."

"Do you want it?"

Maybe we were just being fools in love. Yes, we had grown wiser with the extra years we never had before but that didn't make us any less reasonable when it came to each other. The truth was Kumiko was right; we might never walk down the same lane as lovers or as friends again so what force was compelling me to ask for a second chance.

Kumiko leaned closer till our face was only just centimeters away from each other. My tears had already dried up leaving evident marks on my cheeks, and I waited until she made one final statement. "I'll never forgive you if you were to let go."

"I wouldn't want you to." I whispered as I closed the last bit of place that separated us. The kiss felt light, fluttering, it wasn't like our first sweet kiss, nor was it like our last bitter kiss. It wasn't a start, or the end, this kiss itself was our promise to each other.

"What do you say our promise is this time?" Kumiko pulled away from our kiss to ask, it became almost like an obligation to make one but this time it would last forever.

Since our "always", never really fulfilled its purpose this time I leaned in close for another kiss and whispered, "I'll never let go of you ever."


End file.
